In this week’s double portion, (depending on the year and on what days the holidays fall out, sometimes two weekly portions are read together) Hashem charges Moshe with his final task: retaliate against the Midianites for the catastrophe that…
The history of the Jews in Budapest is a bit complicated and tortuous. Like many places in Europe, the Jews were alternatively invited or banished based on the mood and economic desires of the rulers of the time. In 1279,…
Fire burning flesh. It doesn’t sound too appetizing until you think of cooking meat, which follows that exact recipe. And if it’s really good BBQ, it’s probably fire burning flesh really sloooooowly. Growing up, the word BBQ meant cooking hot…
This week’s portion, Balak, introduces us to בלעם - Bilaam, history’s only legitimate non-Jewish prophet. Although many others claim to have had a prophecy (and, hence, so many religions in the world), they are all impostors, for after Bilaam misused…
Everyone knew that Sean Dowd loved yoga, he pretty much lived his life in yoga clothing, consciously screaming of his yoga crush to the whole world. But his closer friends also knew that he loved anything “Eastern and spiritual.” He…
This week’s portion, Chukat, relates the incident for which Moshe and Aharon were punished and not permitted to enter the promised land, Israel. Just as they were about to enter the Land of Israel, the Jewish people’s water supply…
About seventy five percent of the trainees who start the Navy SEALs training program, drop out before it’s done. And it’s not like anyone can get into this program, one must first excel in the regular Navy and then successfully…
Korach תשפד This week’s portion tells the tragic story of Korach, the man who challenged Moshe’s leadership, claiming that Moshe chose his brother Aharon as Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, out of nepotism, and not because of Hashem’s command…
Traveling to the Amazonian jungle in the mid-1800 was dangerous and harrowing. Bringing your entire mishpacha with you would either be described as blindly optimistic or just plain foolish. But when Henry Wickham decamped from England to build a plantation…